Marketing Day

7/11/13

Today was our marketing day. We got prepared in the morning: we bought prizes for the winners of the brief (“If YouTube designed a product what would it be?”). We also set up the tables with pens and paper, got refreshments and set up the video and PowerPoint presentation downstairs in one of the lecture rooms. I was in charge of documenting the morning session so I was in the background taking photos! We decided to show our video, that we created, first. We had an issue with the sound on the projector, as Nuria’s video was playing from YouTube, so we then had to use James’s backup video that he exported and had on a memory stick. I think the audio is just bad in the Store and if we had the chance to do it again we would do filming elsewhere, somewhere that was a bit more soundproof. Then came the presentation. Granit presented the PowerPoint in this session and explained the brief. He gave the students a chance to ask any questions and when they went upstairs to work, we were all around to answer any questions and help them through their “ideas stage”. We gave them 15 minutes to do mind-maps and 45 minutes to do the design work. I kept track of time with a stopwatch on my phone and then we brought the students back downstairs to present to the rest of their class as well as Celeste (and us).

I was generally impressed with all of their ideas. The first group decided to go with the idea of specialised headphones, so you can play videos/music from them – there are buttons and it can also be commanded by voice recognition. It had built-in memory and a universal connector. The second group thought of a smart camera/video player specifically for YouTube, along with merchandise like a hat, a wireless mouse, a magnetic mouse mat and the box for it all to come in like a little pack. I liked this idea the best as they had thought of a range of ideas and how to package and present the final product(s). The third group went for editing software for your phone so you can create, edit and upload specific YouTube videos straight from their phone. We chose the second group as the winner as they thought of a whole range including the packaging for their products. Everyone was impressed with what they came up with, especially within the selected time they were given. We received good feedback from the morning session and Celeste said that Dawn, their Tutor, was very pleased with us.

In the afternoon we did it all over again. This time it was a much smaller group, which I can see as both a good and bad thing. With the students in the morning, there were enough people to put into suitably sized groups, and that we could all talk to and engage with properly, however in this afternoon’s group, we only had 4 students, so we asked them to work together on the mind-map for ideas, and then do their design work individually. This was a good comparison of what each year could achieve, both by working in groups and working individually.

Again, we were very impressed with all of the ideas. The first student to present chose the idea of YouTube speakers (play, fast forward shapes etc.), along with things like a comfy unique shaped chair to go with it, and she also made the final speaker design interactive by making a 3D “Y” as a puzzle to put into the speaker. I really liked this idea, because it was well presented she thought of products that could be bought together. The second student thought of doing a product for VEVO (a separate company that uses YouTube for music videos). His final idea was branded popcorn, which I didn’t really understand, as he pointed out it was music and then went onto movies. Besides that, he gave a very clear and well-drawn final visual and the idea came across well even though it was a mixed up. The third student presented YouTube snacks, such as confectionary, crisps and drinks etc. The thing I liked about this idea was that he chose the packaging to be re-sealable in case anything was to spill over on electrical items – which often gets overlooked! The last student presented a huge range of ideas, but no final idea. He thought of things like a mobile App, a YouTube television, a YouTube camera for on-the-go videos, some branded headphones and t-shirts. I liked that he thought of a range, but would have liked to see which one he would choose as his final idea to develop. His visuals were clear and he also presented his ideas very well too. We couldn’t actually choose a winner for the first years so we made them all winners. Like the morning session, we received good feedback!

Overall, I think the day was a real success and it went very smoothly. If I were to repeat the day, I would only to be more prepared for the technical fault with the sound during the video, and splitting our group up so half of us would do the morning session and the other half the afternoon session so that we each had an equal amount to do. I really enjoyed the day, and found it a great experience to organise an activity day for ND students.